Monday, 26 January 2009

I just spent the most glorious weekend at the Swedish Institute! On Saturday I attended the showing of, "Bohus Knitting- from Relief Work to World Success" This was followed by a Q&A from the documentary filmmaker Kjell Andersson. Did you know Bohus began it's life as an economic development project for the wives of unemployed quarry workers? I loved the film so much I purchased the DVD. (Perhaps we could have a podflix and send it around to share with everyone?) After the film I wandered the exhibit. Possibly the largest exhibit ever seen anywhere outside of the original Bohus Stickning shop, over forty pullovers, cardigans and hats were on display. Unbelievable!In the afternoon I attended a lecture with Solveig Gustafsson, the Master Dyer behind the Bohus kits. She has painstakingly recreated the colors used in the original Bohus Skickning patterns. So far she has cracked the code of over 27 designs. Her work has been lovingly translated into English by Susanna Hansson.Today I participated in a six hour Bohus class taught by Susanna Hansson. We were given a tour of the exhibit during which we talked with the curator at the Institute responsible for the display. With white gloves we were allowed to fondle the sweaters on display! Needless to say one or two sweaters were turned inside out to determine construction methods. Unreal!In six hours I managed to accomplish this.I am unhappy with the size and will be ripping it out to move down a needle size to 00. Yep, crazy, but I LOVE IT! Here's the flickr link to more of my photos.